The guy suing Electronic Arts for, potentially, tens of millions in royalties from the Madden NFL series, has overstated and overrated his importance in developing John Madden Football, according to the series' creator.

Robin Antonick, in a lawsuit EA has blasted as "utterly without merit," alleges the game currently published today still draws on work he performed, and according to the terms of that contract he's owed tens of millions in royalties.

That's hardly the case, Trip Hawkins, the Madden Football creator, told the Los Angeles Times. (Hawkins is no longer with Electronic Arts, and is not a defendant in the case.) Hawkins said Antonick worked on the 8-bit version of Madden, but was not recommissioned for the 16-bit versions because the company needed "more advanced" programmers.

Ouch.

Antonick's suit makes the claim that he sat next to Hawkins during the game's development; Hawkins said Antonick worked from his home in Chicago. While Antonick was "one of many" people who worked on the first game, Hawkins said, he was "not the person driving the game."